Dear Newbies: STAY OFF THE DAMN SCALE!!!

LOVE your post Nik ... girl you better tell it!

I haven't had my surgery yet ...next Wednesday (yippee), but what I realize is ... "it is what it is."  As long as I am not going up in numbers, then I am ok with that.  As long as I see my clothes getting bigger on me, then I am ok with that.  I didn't gain this weight overnight ... I will not lose it overnight.  BUT, I will lose it.

Loving my journey thus far, I pray that it stays that way.

Oh and by the way, I don't even own a scale :)

Thank you Nik!

I"m listening, I'm listening!  After the first few days of a dozen or so posts talking about the danger of scales and my own self esteem plummeting over it, I took the "old timer" advice and put the scale in the closet!  I designated Mondays as my official weigh in day and have only taken the scale out once (yesterday) to weigh in.  Even that was a blow to my self esteem!  

On a similar note, I think most of the newbies know intellectually that you are right.  Our bodies are gonig through a crazy change and it's not that unusual for us not to be losing fast.  But emotionally, it's tough to go through this crazy surgery and then lose just a couple pounds.  Everything you say makes complete sense but it's sort of like falling in love- sometimes the heart wins over the head. 

Thanks for posting!

I will be going under the knife MONDAY so I am putting the scale away tonight because tomorrow is my last weigh-in presurgery. I plan on NOT weighing in until I go to the doctor's office. (theirs is more accurate anyhow, HAHA).

Nik you are so NOT mean, just honest.

As a good friend who had RNY 10 years ago has said to me, it isnt the number on the scale droppign you should worry over- just take a look at the wasitband of your pants THAT is what tells the story.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I too am so tired of the daily weighers complaining. If you have had the surgery, and IF you follow the rules, YOU WILL LOSE weight. It cannot be otherwise. I weigh once a week and do not vary - Sunday AM, butt naked, before I even take a sip of anything. I'm not still losing - I weigh to maintain.
That said, I have a friend who weighs 4 times a day and it makes her crazy.
Hugs and thanks, Nik
Lana

Gotcha, Nik, about newbies and scale obsession. Guess it's like the difference in types of eating- healthy vs. obsessional. I'm still working at what healthy is- it's a whole new place for me!

Nik, you are a genius.  Thank you for your words, I especially like it when you wrote "The scale doesn’t tell your story, so stop making it the narrator." - I am going to post that on my fridge.  I am 7 weeks out and now have to FORCE myself to weigh only once a week.  Now.........the reason why I used to weigh every d*nm day was that I was sooooooooooo excited about my new life and my new life's potential that I wanted to see it for myself.....but the scale started to dictate my moods.....so I backed it off to once a week.  I feel better waiting...Nikki, you speak the truth, from the vantage point of compassion and experience.  Thanks for thinking and worrying about us newbie :-)   We appreciate it.

Nik, i am sooooooooo happy to see someone write a post like this!  This is one I've been thinking about since my surgery and WAY before I ever had it.  When we diet it makes more sense that we live and die by the scale because we're trying to do something very specific, with a start and finish.  But, after we've made the investment in surgery and the lifestyle that comes with it I kind of feel like those numbers on the scale don't mean as much.  The fact that I've had WLS is something that's a LIFETIME trait and not just a diet to get me down to a specific number or get me into some old piece of clothing in my closet.  I do it to feel better, look better, be happier, etc...  While the scale is a great tool to measure my clinical progress, the best tool to measure how truly successful WLS is for me will be my heart and soul as I age in this "new" body compared to my old one. 

This is probably one of the best post ive read.  I'm 1 week post op as of today and i have people asking me "how much have you lost" i look at them like they're stupid and i'm like "um its only been a week, i'll get weighed at my 1 week appt then again in a month probably"  they then look at me and say "well don't you have a scale" and i say "sure, it's just sitting there being a scale, i dont need to step on it, im cool, i'm not all curious like everyone else" anyways thanks for posting ths